


One Year Ago Today

by Moonrose91



Series: Three Hundred Years of Being Forgotten (Mostly) [3]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Birthday, Gen, Rejection (sort-of), Spoilers for movie (minor), Well almost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-06
Updated: 2012-12-06
Packaged: 2017-11-20 12:58:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/585671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonrose91/pseuds/Moonrose91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack is laughing as he spins through the air.</p><p>It was almost one year ago today that he was born from the lake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Year Ago Today

Jack laughed as the North Wind began to pull him along, howling in his ears.

It had not taken long for the Winds to teach Jack their language, so he could call for help without any realizing that he was doing just that, though Jack had just found it fun to learn and he swooped around, listening to the Wind telling him of this and that, and how things had changed since the North Wind had first been brought into existence, though he could not tell Jack where he had been born, having long forgotten the place, he could remember a great many other things and Jack smiled as the Wind twisted around him.

He blinked a bit and aimed for a mountain top. "What was that?" he asked.

The North Wind hesitated and then repeated himself.

"It...I am going to be one year old next week?" Jack questioned and the North Wind responded affirmatively.

Jack leapt into the air with a laugh. "We have to tell Sandman!" he exclaimed.

North Wind bustled up happily around him and immediately set off for the Sandman's destination.

He should be over Scotland tonight, if the North Wind was right about his dates.

* * *

“Sandman!” Jack greeted cheerfully and Sandy looked up to see the boy coming in.

He immediately widened his cloud and Jack landed with ease. He settled next to Sandy and Sandy reached over, ruffling the boy’s hair. The way he tensed slightly before relaxing told Sandy that Jack was still being walked through, but it was not weighing him down as it had when Sandy had met him.

He let a stream of sand trail over to Jack and curl around him, letting Jack play with it as he desired while Sandy focused on spreading the good dreams, glancing over on occasion to see that Jack was calling up various visions, horses, dolphins, and snowflakes, and the North Wind sung around them, though Sandy never knew what he was saying.

Once reassured that the streams were on course, Sandy immediately settled down to face Jack and Jack beamed at him. “My first birthday is next week!” Jack exclaimed and Sandy blinked a bit.

And a question mark flew above his head.

Jack turned to the wind, which ruffled his hair and seemed to be whispering to him.

Sandy didn’t know; he couldn’t speak to the wind as Jack obviously could.

“Wind says that it is the day that everyone gives presents to the children, if they’ve got the time and the…resources,” Jack stated and shrugged.

“Must happen every year for him to notice. North’s not very observant of humans,” Jack responded and laughed as the Wind shoved him in retaliation, though not hard enough to send him flying from the cloud.

Sandy smiled a bit, deciding to never inform North of that tidbit.

He wasn’t sure how the Guardian of Wonder would handle knowing Jack Frost had been born on Christmas Day from a lake.

He tapped Jack’s hand to get his attention and the boy looked over at him eagerly. Sandy began to show symbols and Jack smiled. “Yeah, I can be at my home on my birthday!” he responded and Sandy grinned before he ruffled Jack’s hair again.

This time, Jack did not tense, but leaned a little into the action. Sandy smiled a bit sadly and suddenly flurried up a few golden snowflakes. Jack startled at the movement and laughed. Sandy immediately smiled and flurried a few golden snowflakes into Jack’s face. He blinked a bit and shook his head, sleepiness slowly overcoming him.

“Sandman, that was sneaky,” Jack yawned out, even as he settled down on the golden cloud, clinging tightly to his staff and Sandman smiled at him.

He batted at the North Wind and made some images, ones that the North Wind probably agreed with as he backed down.

There was a time and place for play.

And Jack’s eyes looked sunken, and while Sandy wanted nothing more than to bundle Jack up and take care of him for all of eternity, that would only hurt Jack in the long run.

Jack was as free as the Four Winds (and the sooner the other Seasonal Spirits learned that making demands of the Winds made them surly, the happier Sandy would be; he had to work around them when they were in a mood and they usually got into one when Seasonal Spirits got demanding) and keeping him caged would only hurt the boy. However Sandy could watch over him for a short time.

And feed him.

When was the last time the Winter Child had a meal anyway?

Sandy glanced at the boy and continued on his rounds, smiling a little at how the dreams twirled brightly through the air.

He could watch Jack, if only for a time.

* * *

Jack glanced around. “What so special about this place Wind?” he questioned.

It was his birthday and he had wanted to go home, to his lake in the forest, when the Wind said he wanted to show him something.

Something wondrous.

Jack, always curious, had agreed at that small prodding. Now here, he had no idea if this was really all that…

Jack stopped dead when he saw the great building rising out of the snow and wind. It filled him with a sense of childish wonderment.

Not that surprising; he was only one after all.

He immediately took off towards the building and the North Wind pushed him up. Jack immediately began to circle the busy building. There was bustling activity, and he spun around slightly. He grinned a bit as he watched the great fluffy beings began to lumber around, working on things. Small creatures with bells on their hats ran around being annoyances and he hovered at the window, eyes watching.

He pulled back at North Wind’s tugging and jumped onto his back before racing to what had to be a stables. He peeked in, but it was empty. Glancing around he crept in, wondering what lived here normally, but the Wind didn’t seem concerned by their absence.

Jack traced the scribbles on the stall doors, frowning a little. “Do you think Sandman will teach me to read?” he asked and the Wind questioned his desire to read.

“Might be useful,” Jack retorted and the Wind was noncommittal.

The Winds had no desire to learn more about humans, or other Spirits that weren’t Jack really, then they had to. The scribbles could stay just that, scribbles.

They were unimportant.

Jack rolled his eyes at the Wind and followed his tug back outside. Swirling around the building until they came to a door. He blinked at it and Wind urged him to knock. Jack twisted to glare at his invisible companion and the Wind just encouraged him to do so.

“If I get walked through, you get to explain yourself to Sandman,” Jack stated and, hesitantly, reached up and knocked.

The door opened and one of the tall wooly things answered the door. He blinked and wheeled back when it glared down at him. “You…you can see me?” he questioned.

A year of only being seen by Sandman and the Four Winds and it made him reel that someone else did.

The being just stared down at him like he was insane. “Sorry…not used to being seen. Um…what is this place?” he asked and the being stared at him and then turned him around carefully urging him away.

“What, why do I have to go?” he demanded.

It grunted at him and shooed him away before shutting the door.

Jack stared at the door, feeling as if something had just been stolen from him. The Wind settled around him apologetically, but Jack waved him off, the hide cloak fluttering around him with the Wind’s encouragement. “No, no. Not your fault. I think, my dear friend, we have found a new game to play!” Jack stated, swallowing down the pain with the thought of _fun_.

The Wind perked up.

“It’s called, ‘Let’s Break In’,” he stated and the Wind swirled around him excitedly, a child instead of an ancient being that lived for far longer than Jack.

He laughed and jumped up onto the Wind’s back. “Not today, however. Home?” he questioned.

The Wind sulked, but immediately rushed to obey, racing away and to the small lake.

It was still light when they landed and Jack immediately twirled around the frozen lake, causing frost ferns to grow, curling away from his bare feet. He was still twirling around, playing with the Wind, as night fell.

He barely noticed until a golden stream twirled around him.

Jack laughed and looked up to find Sandman there, on his cloud, and Jack flew up, landing. He didn’t stop himself as he hugged the smaller spirit, who hugged Jack back, filling the Child of Winter with joy. The North Wind whistled around them before pulling up, going to play amongst the stars while Jack relaxed on the cloud, Sandman lifting up. He immediately settled next to Jack and urged him to sit up.

Jack did, leaning forward eagerly, only to start in surprise as Sandman placed a gift wrapped in brown paper in front of him. He looked down at it and looked up at Sandman, who urged him to open it. Jack hesitated and then carefully unwrapped it.

Lying on the paper was a snowflake made of golden dream sand. He carefully lifted it into his hands, noting that it was large enough to see every small detail, but still seemed small within his palm. Under the golden snowflake were some rawhide laces and he could see how they could be tied around the top of the snowflake to make a necklace, so it would always be safe. He looked up at Sandman in amazement and then back down at the gift.

He carefully lifted it up and tied it around his neck, feeling his body naturally coat it with frost and he smiled before he threw himself at Sandman, hugging him tightly.

Sandman hugged him back and Jack could not be happier, the gift and the feeling of acceptance washing away the bitter disappointment of being turned away from the wondrous place in the north, hidden away in an impossible place.

“I didn’t get you anything,” Jack stated as he released the Sandman, who merely shook his head.

His forehead furrowed in confusion and Sandman made a series of images.

One was Jack, followed by a present, and then the symbols he had used to explain Christmas with an ‘x’ over them.

“You…you are celebrating my birthday, not Christmas?” he questioned and Sandman nodded.

Jack smiled and looked away. “Still didn’t get you any…,” he trailed off and carefully brought the golden snowflake up.

“But I could,” he stated and focused.

He called up the ice and the frost that was a much a part of him as the sand was of Sandman. The golden snowflake gleamed and shimmered as Jack began to replicate the snowflake, creating the only identical one in all of time.

He felt it fight him, felt the ice and frost protest, but he gently urged it along, explaining the need as gently as he could, and soon a replica snowflake was in his hand. He hesitated, unsure of how it would be taken and then held it out. Sandman startled slightly and then smiled gently taking it.

“Merry Christmas Sandman,” Jack stated and Sandman smiled warmly before he hugged Jack again.

Jack hugged him back.

It was the best first birthday Jack could have ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration of the snowflakes comes from Twisted Skys's [Invisible](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8730427/19/Invisible) on fanfiction dot net. It was used with Twisted Skys's permission and it was something I just could not pass up, though the reasoning of the giving of snowflakes is different, but the idea of identical snowflakes, one of unmelting ice and the other of golden dream sand, is from this author and deserves the credit for it. The link provided is for the chapter it comes from.
> 
> I also got Sandman storing things in his hair from Twisted Skys as well. Forgot to put that in the previous part.
> 
> I am an evil, cruel, and vicious person.
> 
> However, the idea of Jack dying, and being reborn, on Christmas Day in 1711 came from using NASA's moon phases chart and someone in real life pointing out that the skates were new and had to be presents, meaning they had to be given at Christmas.
> 
> Presents, for both of them, because, while Jack wasn't wearing them, they were next to him in that scene.
> 
> Also, I need to clarify something now.
> 
> In my head, Jack's about 15. So no, there will be no shipping. Sorry.
> 
> Not even if you beg.


End file.
